Japan Airlines (JAL) took its very first Airbus A350 delivery from Airbus in Toulouse on 13 June 2019. It is also the very first Airbus plane ever ordered and delivered to JAL. There was a grand ceremony to send off the brand new A350 to Japan. Watch the amazing low flypass after departure as the new JAL A350 wave goodbye to the crowd. In the video, Airbus and JAL official also explain why the new airplane will be used for domestic route only. The new JAL will start flying from Tokyo to Fukuoka from September 1st.
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Join me for an exciting video from Toulouse, France at the Airbus Delivery Center on 13th June 2019, where I celebrate and witness the delivery of the very first Airbus A350-900 to Japan Airlines.
At the beginning of the video, I recall the historical announcement of Fabrice Bregier, president and CEO of Airbus, back in October 2013, in which he stated that Japan Airlines had placed their first ever order with Airbus for 31 A350 aeroplanes, with options for up to 25 more. The deal was worth $9.5 billion dollars at the time and was a major victory for Airbus over their competitor Boeing, whose Boeing 787 Dreamliner aeroplane was the main competitor in the market for an aeroplane that focused on fuel efficiency, something which had become very important in an era of highly volatile global fuel prices, which was damaging the profitability of airlines.
Fast forward almost six years and, right on schedule, the first A350 aeroplane delivery ceremony is upon us! At the ceremony, Dominic Horwood, Rolls Royce’s Chief Commercial Officer expresses his pride at the fact that this will be Rolls Royce’s first opportunity to power one of Japan Airline’s fleet. Then, Yoshiharu Ueki, Japanese Airlines’ representative director and chairman expresses his delight too and reminisces about his former days flying on European routes as a pilot and the massive changes in technology which have occurred in aeroplanes over the years, meaning that he would now have to be completely retrained to be able to fly the A350 jet!
Christian Scherer, Airbus’ Chief Commercial Officer, also gives a wonderful and detailed insight in to why the Airbus A350 is absolutely perfect for Japan Airlines’ vision. Japan Airlines does not plan to use its A350’s on international routes but on domestic flights – flights between Tokyo and Fukuoka on the A350 are expected to commence on 1st September 2019 – and aeroplanes which are used on domestic flights tend to use more fuel and require more maintenance because of the greater frequency of taking off and landing. But the A350 is 25% more fuel efficient than the model it is replacing and has a take-off weight more than 200 tons lighter, which means that the strain on the engines caused by the provision of acceleration for take-off will be significantly reduced, in turn greatly reducing the maintenance costs of the A350’s running on these shorter, domestic routes as well as giving reduced fuel costs.
After the dramatic unveiling of the plane, preceded by piano music and dancing, I meet with MC Miho to hear her thoughts on the new JAL A350. She is really enthusiastic about the new aeroplane and thinks that the Japanese will love it. In particular, she loves the beautiful, curved shape of the tips of the wings.
The interior of the new plane is expected to be unveiled in Tokyo on 20th June. As I watch the aeroplane take off on its ferry flight to Tokyo and watch it fly away, I am more excited than ever to check out the interior in a few days time.
What did you guys think of the new A350? I’m super excited to hear what you thought of it all, so please leave a comment down below and, as always, thanks for watching!
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